A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

[Humanization (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Shadowstalker Cadejo, Saori Segawa]

“W-What is going on?!” I exclaimed once I saw the state the bandit camp was in.

After killing Narube, I made my way back as fast as I could despite still having a broken arm. I admit I was counting on the Health regeneration from leveling up to heal it up for me. From my experience, it would usually fix up any minor fractures, but I guess this might be too much.

Another reason could be that once it counted as a status effect, it disqualifies from the leveling up regeneration bonus. An example would be the damaged mana paths inside Hestia's left wing that haven't healed up yet.

Well, it wasn’t a huge problem considering that Hestia can heal this quite easily.

However, as I approached the bandit camp, the smell of smoke and the sight of red instantly made me think, “Everywhere she goes, she leaves a fire behind…” I mean, nothing could express “Hestia Atsuko is here” better than a massive forest fire…during the night…

Exasperation aside, the sight of so much fire was a bit worrisome. Not because I was still cautious of the wyverns but because Hestia shouldn’t need to use this much.

Sure, she was angry at the bandit, but I don’t think she would go so far as to kill them when she could easily subdue them with her earth and wind magic. Hestia’s current problem was that she was worried that her humanity was slipping due to her new body. Killing a human might not be the best choice to resolve this issue.

Of course, as a former teacher, I would have to advise her against doing it, but this situation wasn’t easy enough for me to just decide on one single correct answer. I couldn’t instill into her that killing humans was forbidden as we are monsters, so there is always the chance that we would fight a human to the death. If she were to hesitate and got hurt because of this advice, then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

So color me surprised when I arrived at the scene and saw Hestia chanting something while she approached a robed man prostrating himself before her. The next moment, I turned my head to the side towards the voices of Tasianna and the saurians who were telling Hestia to stop, with the captured bandits lying unconscious next to them.

“Huh? Mister Kushlek’zar, what is going on with Lady Hestia?!” I called out the leader of the “Depth Serpents” party.

“Miss Saori! You’ve come at the perfect timing; Hestia isn’t listening to our calls!” the lanky raptorsilian voiced out. “The bandits in the camp are subdued but the young scale is not stopping her assault.”

Kushlek’zar retold what happened during the raid. After Akasht, the mighty sacosilian, escaped with all the prisoners, the saurians began subjugating all the bandits by capturing them with Kushlek’zar’s water magic while Hestia had to fight against the bandit’s fire mage, who I recall was Macklemor.

Hestia wasn't willing to fight him and tried her best to subdue him but she underestimated how persistent he was, which was the reason why the camp was on fire. Macklemor slung fire spells over and over again, either missing Hestia and hitting the tents or hitting her but being ineffective as Hestia's barrier and resistance towards fire prevented all damage.

The saurians left them to their duel, due to their cultural belief, as they were more interested in capturing the rest of the bandits. Once they were finished, Tasianna came back from her distraction task looking troubled, as if she was being tormented by something.

While they questioned her what happened with the bandits she led away, they instantly stopped the moment Hestia cried out in pain.

The next moment, Hestia’s draconic body parts started to morph, as she continued growling. Her fangs and claws became even sharper and more pronounced, her scales became edgier and more vivid, while her tail started to resemble more like a jagged blade due to her protruding scales. Although she didn’t have her wings out right now, I had the feeling that they too must have had an appearance change.

Looking at her right now, at first glance, she looked similar to how I've gotten used to her for nearly two months now. To me, her dragonewt form looked just like always.

While I was doing that, I also observed the massive magic circle that was floating above Hestia in the sky, following her with every step. It was the largest spell circle I’ve ever seen in my life, dwarfing even Hestia’s [Sacred Field] which was an area-of-effect healing spell, able to grow in size according to the mana invested.

The only spell that could match it in size, albeit it still was slightly smaller, would be Hestia’s custom spell [Imperial Hellfire].

It’s nearly ready…that isn’t good. I have no idea what [Imperial Hellfire] would look like but just looking at it is already sending a shiver down my spine.

“Symphonie des Feuergottes!”

At the same time I ended that thought, Hestia cast her spell.

“Hmph! Coil around us, o, mighty serpent, Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier! O, Goddess of the Depths, I ask you to perform your justice, Aqua Prison!” dual casting two spells at once, a snake made out of water completely coiled around the whole raiding party, forming a scaled barrier while a water sphere covered it, creating a double-layered protective shield.

For a moment, I couldn’t help but stare in wonder at the materialization of these two azure-blue spells, granting me a short glimpse of how it would seem like to be underwater in an air bubble. However, this feeling of amazement quickly died down as my instincts forced my attention towards the glowing circle of Hestia’s spell, menacingly floating in the sky, at the brink of activation.

“Such a beautiful sight…Oh, from the bottom of my soul, I thank you Danterno for granting me a glimpse of your power…,” the robed fire mage Macklemor suddenly uttered with a wry smile, tears floating down his face like a broken dam. “Forgive me, my brothers and sisters for besmirching the Talsyn name…I await my God’s absolution. Jasper…my friend…please, you must escape…”

Seconds felt like minutes as small beads of cold sweat formed around my forehead, soaking my bangs, as I couldn’t help but shiver.

Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Fear Resistance Lv. 1] acquired

With the sound of a rocket engine exploding, a stream of fire poured out from the magic circle onto Hestia, pounding on the ground like a cascading waterfall to then recoil back into the air. A magnificent inferno displayed itself, consuming anything in its wake as it spread itself like the water of an open sink tap.

"HESTIA!" I cried out as my heart raced to the brink of exhaustion as I saw my beloved friend being enveloped by her own spell, fearing that even she couldn’t survive this blazing glory.

“PRINCESS HESTIA!” Tasianna shrieked from the top of her lungs, clutching her head as she tried to run out of the water barrier with a mortified expression, before being stopped by Kushlek’zar.

“You will waste your life the second you leave our Goddess’s protective shields, Miss Tasianna. Even my barriers cannot hold on for too long,” the saurian said with a frown, clutching onto Tasianna’s arm without budging.

Tasianna struggled to break through despite kicking, punching, and even using spells on Kushlek’zar, but the saurian stayed stoic and ignored her wails of grief, “LET GO OF ME! MY PRINCESS NEEDS M-ME! I MUST SHIELD HER!”

My legs froze in place, unable to move despite my deepest wish to grab Hestia out of the sea of fire. I could only watch in horror as I covered my mouth to stop myself from shouting, as I knew that Kushlek’zar was right.

We might be inside his barrier, but the sheer heat transmitted through the water was great enough that it felt like a sauna in here, as the outer layer of the barrier quickly evaporated, forming a white smokescreen around us.

I could technically look through it with my [Heat Vision] but Hestia’s fire was in the way, making it impossible for me to pinpoint her location. This realization, however, eventually reminded me that I had [Enhanced Enemy Sense]. Using it, all my worries washed away as I was able to feel somebody inside the flames.

It has to be her; it just has to be Hestia. It’s callous of me to say this but Macklemor can’t possibly survive through this.

Once I confirmed the signal, I immediately informed Tasianna about it, calming her down enough that her shaking legs gave up on her. “Thank goodness,” she exclaimed as she reclaimed control of her breathing.

I began caressing her back, not only to soothe her but also myself. While I was doing that, Kushlek’zar conjured up three blue magic circles, two to reinforce the barrier with [Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier] and [Sapphire Membrane] and one to heal my arm with [Ocean’s Healing].

“Unfortunately, water magic isn’t as powerful when it comes to healing wounds compared to holy magic. However, it should be enough to staunch the bleeding and recover a few parts of your broken arm,” he said as he continued casting spells.

[Broken Arm (Right) (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Shadowstalker Cadejo, Saori Segawa]

After seven casts of [Ocean’s Healing], the bones inside of my arm healed enough for me to move it. He was right when he mentioned that this spell wasn’t as effective as [Major Heal]. Hestia could probably solve this problem within two casts, I believe.

Eventually, the sea of flames died down, disappearing into thin air as the saurian priest’s barrier survived through it all, although the white mist of evaporated water was so thick that it could serve as a smokescreen for a whole battalion of soldiers.

Dematerializing his barriers, our whole group got a clear view of what Hestia’s spell did. Everything, plants, tents, wood, even the very ground was scorched into ash, leaving nothing but a huge coal-black scar behind. Strangely enough, the spell was quite controlled as the pyre seemed to have left behind a circle.

Although not clean, it was unquestionable that whatever laid before the circle, the spell’s effective range, seemed to have survived the inferno, only showing singed patches of grass due to the extreme heat. From the look of it, the tent with all of the food supplies miraculously survived.

"Miss Saori, look over there…," Tasianna pointed, leading my eyes towards the center of the spell, where the ground was in the direst state. There, I could see a young girl clad in an outfit inspired by Earth's Idol while a white cloak laid on the ground. Her hair was shining a bright crimson, almost as if they were glowing, as an aura of fire circled her like flies around a campfire.

Suddenly, a blue mist started seeped out from her body before a deafening roar erupted, “KRRRRRIIIIIIIAAAAAGHHHH!” as a pair of dark-red wings blew the mist away, revealing the tattoo-like markings on her wing’s webbing. The hardened scales covering her wings were nothing like the ones I remembered, rivaling the immense intimidation force of the ones on her tail.

The girl then turned her head towards us, baring her fangs as her wings released a dust-like substance into the air before flapping them in our direction. “Hestia!” I wanted to call out to my dragon friend but the red glowing eyes of hers, sharper and more primal than ever, pushed those words back down my throat.

Something is wrong! I thought.

The flames surrounding her like servants would their mistress, glowing crimson hair that looked like they could combust into fire any second now, blazing red eyes that looked at us like they would an enemy, while the dust from her wings quickly floated through the air towards us.

Something had to be wrong!

"Kash! Kash! Kash!" a crackling sound came from Hestia as she gnashed her teeth together, sparks appearing like a firelighter.

“Mister Kushlek’zar!” I shouted, driven by instinct.

“The might of the oceans made into a shield for her Eminence’s protection, Sapphire Membrane!” equally realizing that something was wrong, Kushlek’zar immediately understood my intentions and materialized a thick, almost viscous, shield of water in front of us.

“Khaarrrr-KASH!” opening her jaw wide and then gnashing them together, a sound like the sizzling of a dynamite’s fuse resounded for a second before the dust in front of her exploded.

Like a chain reaction, the explosion in front of Hestia led to the whole trail of dust to erupt in flames before stopping in front of the [Sapphire Membrane] breaking it into pieces.

“Not fast enough! The spell wasn’t cast fast enough!” Kushlek’zar chided himself, growling like a dinosaur in front of his failed spell, despite successfully protecting us from any harm.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" an ear-piercing scream roared out of Hestia's mouth as more "kash" sounds came from her gnashing jaw.

Once the mist settled, everybody saw Hestia shooting out three beams of dragon breath into the sky, vanishing into the horizon. In between each beam, she continued screaming what sounded like she was in pain, as tears flowed down her rage-filled expression.

“AHHHH, A DRAGON! This feeling of being glared at by a superior beast rattles my scales into action every single time! The young scale really is a powerful dragon!” Krim-Slak the blue carnosilian said as he clenched onto his halberd and shield with vigor, slamming his tail onto the ground like an excited puppy.

“Seems like the lass has finally drowned herself in her draconic rage. She is nothing but an feral beast now,” Grazlahta the red saurian uttered as he glared at Hestia with the eyes of a hunter. “Kush, call Akasht, now! Before she condemns her soul by hurting an innocent, we shall do what is merciful to allow our Goddess to judge her fairly.”

“WHAT, NO!” Tasianna blurted. “No, you can’t do that! I-I won’t let you! I am her Highness’s shield! If you dare harm her, then may the Goddess forgive me for what I am about to do.” An icy mist appeared around Tasianna as she stared down the two excited carnosilians.

Realizing what they meant, I couldn’t feel anything else but disgust at what the two carnosilians said. I turned towards Kushlek’zar, who was still analyzing Hestia, “Mister Kushlek’zar, there has to be a rational explanation here!” I pleaded. “She’s not acting herself right now otherwise, she wouldn’t even think of attacking Tasianna and me. Please, I beg you, don’t jump on a wrong conclusion here.”

From how it is looking, it would be impossible for Tasianna and me to defeat the saurians. Not only were we outmatched as mages but also as fighters, giving us literally no other option than to plead to the saurians, hoping that they wouldn’t resort to attacking Hestia.

I was trying to find a reason for why she was like this but my [Identify] was inferior to her [Identity Blocker]. I couldn't look at her current status but I had a feeling Macklemor had to be involved in it.

Without giving me time to breathe, I continued speaking, trying to find some argument that was good enough to persuade the saurian priest, “That fire mage could have done something to her! I can’t look at her status now but you know we two have the [Telepathy] skill! I can speak to her! Please, give me the chance to do so!”

“Depth Priest Kushlek’zar, I plead to you as a worshipper of our Origin Goddess, please don’t harm our Princess! I swear to Goddess Plesia that her Highness has done nothing but good in her life! Anything but saving her is unjust in this situation, and it will sully your prestige as servants of our Goddess!” Tasianna supported me with a religious reason, talking back against the two carnosilians as they hissed at her.

“I will take that as an insult, wind elf. If that young scale means anything to you, then you should know what is the right thing to do,” Grazlahta responded with a reptilian hiss.

"Grazlahta’s right, Tasianna. It's not a good feeling to strike down an honorable scale-kin, especially a young scale, but duty compels us," Krim-Slak justified their reasoning. "Kush, call Akasht! We need everybody for this. Xohulotel is watching us!”

I swallowed hard as I heard them say this, but the moment laughter escaped Kushlek’zar’s throat, I couldn’t help but be baffled.

"Ha ha ha! Has the heat warmed your blood so much, that you've lost your reasoning also, Grazlahta? Krim? Miss Tasianna is right. The lass doesn't deserve to die yet, and we would dishonor ourselves if we were to choose the easy way out. Besides, we saurians owe Caedhul and the Levianewts greatly, so harming their relationship with both Loatryx and Kargryx would destroy everything we have worked for to support saurian greatness,” Kushlek’zar announced with an outstretched tongue. “Ahhh, my curiosity has been fulfilled! A Dragon Princess of the Dragon Empire?! No wonder for the secrecy!”

The sight of the inquisitive raptorsilian grinning while fidgeting with his fingers like a villain was a sight to behold, as he continued speaking, “Aside from that, that lass is the reason for me finally gaining [Instruction]! As if an educator can ever harm one of his precious students.” He said with widened eyes. “Capturing and subduing, that is what water magic does best. Symbolizing our faith to Goddess Plesia, the Goddess of Honor, Order, and Tradition, no element is superior to water magic when it comes to detaining others, not even dark and earth magic. So do not worry Miss Tasianna and Miss Saori, my student will be punished, my way of course!”

The disparity of reactions from Kushle’zar’s decision was evident from how Tasianna and I were relieved to the point that we relaxed our body although we knew that we had to fight Hestia in a second, while the two carnosilians scoffed and hissed in displeasure. Thankfully, they obediently listened to their leader and asked us what the plan would be.

However, before we could that, Grazlahta and Krim-Slak both pounced forwards, calling out [Aegis] to defend themselves from Hestia's sudden attack using her flame-red claws. She jumped off the shields and returned to where she was when she shot out those fire beams, striking and grinding her tail on the ground until it glowed as hot as molten metal.

“Tch, without [Aegis] our shields would’ve been pierced!” Krim-Slak exclaimed as he examined his shield.

In this short moment of pause, Hestia began sharpening her claws by placing them between her teeth, using them as a grinding wheel until each claw regained their sickle-like sharpness. Her bright red glowing tail looked exactly like a blade with how her scales perfectly aligned with each other, while the spike at the end of it was pointing at us. With how her tail was longer than her whole torso, it would be dangerous to come too close to her spear-like tail’s range.

Kushlek'zar gave a raptor-like call, sounding exactly like a velociraptor from a dinosaur documentary, before telling Tasianna and me to try [Telepathy] on Hestia while his party subdued her. With that said, the saurians immediately went into action with ferocious determination.

[“Tasianna, let us do this!”] I called my friend into action through our telepathic link.

[“Yes, Miss Saori!”]

As we were trying to establish a connection with Hestia, meanwhile, the fight between her and the saurians began with a flurry of strikes from her tail, slicing through the air and pushing each carnosilian back.

Kushlek’zar tried to apprehend Hestia with [Depth’s Call], conjuring up watery tentacles, but due to Hestia’s Agility, none of them even manage to come even close. With her tail as a weapon, Hestia used the flammable dust from her body to stand up against all three saurians.

How is she using her dust so proficiently?! I thought as suddenly the telepathic link connected onto something.

[‘Hello, hello?! Saori?! Tasianna?!’]

[“Hestia!”] I called out while Tasianna said [“Lady Hestia!”]

[‘No, no, you two got the wrong Hestia. I’m parallel mind #1! I’m taking over while the original mind, your Hestia, is trying to get her body back in control!’]

[Parallel Thoughts], one of the few skills that Hestia possessed that neither Tasianna nor I could get from the skill shop. We scoured through it, but we were unsuccessful. I know it is rude to say this, but it says something about her if she's able to gain a multi-mind skill like this. It honestly made me worry about her mental health before our meeting.

Anyway, this was actually the first time that I’ve ever had a conversation with one of her parallel minds. She explained the skill to us once, but I never was able to imagine having multiple people speaking inside my head, even if they are technically copies of myself.

[“Parallel mind #1, yes? What is going on right now? Why is Hestia on a rampage?! Has [Battle Frenzy] appeared again?!”] I bombarded her with questions.

[‘Yes, yes, I’ll answer them all but please give me a second…,’] our telepathic connection disconnected for a few second before reconnecting. [“I don’t know how this happened, but original mind’s body has gone on a rampage! After we suddenly got the title [Divine Inferno], we lost all our fire spells and the ones from [Holy Magic]! Original mind couldn’t handle that shock!”]

According to her, Hestia started acting weird the moment [Divine Inferno] appeared, causing her mind to disconnect from her body. Hestia herself was trying to re-establish the connection but when she saw her body attacking us, she lost control of what she was working on. Seeing us nearly getting hurt from her custom spell [Symphonie des Feuergottes] and her exploding scale-dust made her curse her body.

Speaking of that custom spell, it seems like something happened that changed her [Imperial Hellfire] into it. She was guessing that it had something to do with her new title.

Divine Inferno

A title granted to a mortal recognized by the God of Fire. Boosts proficiency gain of magics based on Fire Element, while also boosting their power. Decreases Water Element proficiency. The possessor of this title will also gain immunity to any fire spell that he/she cast

Symphonie des Feuergottes

A custom spell created by individual [Hestia Atsuko]. Opening the symphony with a grand inferno explosion pouring down from the magic circle, the caster will undergo the four movements of a standard symphony: allegro, adagio, minuet, finale. Robed in flames, the caster gains an increase of stats depending on the movement currently in action. Mana consumption continues until the spell is deactivated

Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Allegro)

Flames burning as fast as flashfire, increasing the caster’s Agility by half of the base amount. All fire elemental attacks increase in strength

[‘Original mind and we parallel minds will get this in control! Please, you have to stop our body before it reaches the ‘finale’ movement. If it acts like a true symphony, then we definitely don’t want it to reach that point!’] parallel mind #1 informed us before cutting the telepathy to resume whatever she was working on.

Relieved that we actually got some information on the situation and that Hestia herself hasn’t gone mad from [Battle Frenzy], I elatedly explained to Kushlek'zar about it while keeping quiet about her new title. Considering that Tasianna accidentally exposed Hestia's [Princess] title, giving the saurians any more privy information would be…well, I don’t think Hestia herself would like it.

“You two heard her companions, the young scale has a tantrum. Take this as training and subdue her. We haven’t fought against a strong opponent as a group for a while now,” Kushlek’zar said.

““Shut up, Kush! Use some spells already you idiot! She’s overwhelming us with all this dust!”” the two carnosilians responded in unison.

And they were right. Hestia wasn’t casting any spells due to having no “mind” dedicating to use magic but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t a threat. Her body still was able to control fire with [Pyrokinesis] and the ones flying around her can be used offensively or defensively. We also had to be wary of Hestia's claws and tail which were practically weapons at this point, including the explosive scale-dust from her body.

Parallel mind #1 also explained that something happened to her body, causing her to gain new abilities that we should be careful of. Considering that she never really used her “sparks” so offensively, I guess this has to be one of them.

With another bestial roar, Hestia “sharpened” her tail against the grind, reheating it, before jumping up and slamming it onto Krim-Slak like a broadsword.

“Graceful slithering, Slithering Serpent!” Kushlek’zar cast onto himself before shooting it to Krim-Slak with [Synergist’s Oath].

Hestia’s tail crashed onto his shield but instead of cutting through, she slipped off it due to a blue gel that was covering Krim-Slak's weapons and body. Sliding on the ground with that gel, the blue saurian moved behind Hestia who lost her balance from that last attack. He shouted [Molt] to remove [Slithering Serpent]’s effect, before slamming the edge of his shield against her stomach’s sides.

Before she was sent flying, she gnashed her teeth again, causing an explosion that caught Krim-Slak head-on. Not willing to give Hestia a moment to act again, Kushlek’zar shot an [Ocean Blast], a highly condensed ball of water. It crashed against Hestia’s skull like a hammer, sending her right at Grazlahta who swung the blunt side of his axe at her.

It hit her head, leaving a visible bleeding bruise behind as her body crashed onto the ground.

That broke her [Draconic Barrier]?!

Before Grazlahta could follow up on his attack, Hestia rotated her body over, avoiding the saurian’s attack by moving on all fours and began a flurry of swings using her tail like a spear. Although he managed to redirect all the attacks with his shield, it still was intense enough that he wasn’t able to defend himself from Hestia’s next attack.

The crimson haired girl drew her claws through the ground, releasing two sets of claws made from literal fire. Slashing into the carnosilian’s chest and ripping through his armor and scales, a clear cut could be seen, oozing enough blood to be considered critical for a human.

As Grazlahta was trying to distance himself to avoid another attack, Hestia’s body instantly attempted to take advantage of this fact, but I prevented it by casting [Shadow Tendrils] to entangle her arms. As pain began to contort her face, white flames appeared from her arm, destroying my tendrils before starting to restore her Health from all the damage that she received.

What in the-?!

The white fire, something that I’ve never seen before, started enveloping her whole body. The bruises caused by Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Blast] and the one from Grazlahta's axe disappeared as if she just used [Major Heal] on herself. Any residue white flames simply left her body and began swirling around her like the others.

This is why this girl is so hard to fight against. She can simply take any damage and heal it back in a matter of seconds without any problems due to her high mana capacity.

“Kroooooooooarrrrrghhhh! Xohulotel, laruz!” a loud war cry resounded from a huge humanoid crocodile, before he threw his hammer.

Hestia simply dodged it, before baring her fangs at the one who threw that at her.

“Akasht, don’t kill her. Only subdue!” Kushlek’zar ordered him.

From here on out, Tasianna, all the saurians, and I cooperated together to capture Hestia, which was difficult to do as Hestia's swiftness was boosted by her custom spell.

Even if somebody could get close enough to attack, Hestia’s [Draconic Roar] would always burst out, stunning everybody close to her with an ear-destroying attack. Even Akasht, the physically strongest among us, was forced to back away from her when she did this. If Tasianna hadn’t tried to shut Hestia’s mouth with her ice magic every time she did that, we probably would have even more trouble.

Although she was taking quite significant damage from our combined efforts, the white flames would always appear and heal her up almost like it’s automatic. Any damage we would take would also be healed from Kushlek’zar’s [Ocean Healing].

The only attack that we seriously had to avoid was the purple flames that she occasionally shot out. Fortunately none of us was hit by them, but anything that was, immediately turned into a dark purple shriveled mess, that reminded me too much of Hestia’s poison.

As we continued this fight, Hestia eventually realized that we were quickly wearing her down. She wrapped her wings around her before releasing an unbearable heat wave from her body, sending anybody close to her flying away as the heat slowly cooked everybody alive.

From what parallel mind #1 told me, this had to be one of the two new abilities that Hestia suddenly got. The one where she would sharpen her claws and tail was [Hellblade Edge], similar to her [Spark Claws] and [Spark Fangs], while this heatwave was [Dreadflare Aura].

I admit that the name fitted this ability very well. The sheer aura around Hestia right now was so hot that coming any closer would definitely combust my fur on fire. None of us could come any closer, but Hestia could continue shooting out fire projectiles at us like it was nothing.

“Enough! Does this young scale believe she can defeat me with fire? Impudent! Learn the terror of the oceans, Princess Hestia! Observe, my student!” Kushlek’zar shouted as he pulled out a rosary with a beautiful clear blue stone embedded into it, shining the moment he started casting spells.

[Azure Blade], [Kraken’s Destruction], [Torrential Rain], [Perilous Tidefall], and so many more spells were cast without stop. Strangely enough, he wasn’t casting any of them, magic circles simply appeared around him as his rosary continued beaming.

I-It changed?! Will he be able to keep up?!

Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Adagio)

Flames burning slowly with powerful notes, increasing the caster’s Strength and Intelligence by half of the base amount. Mana consumption of all spells is reduced by 50%

The second stage of her custom spell activated, removing the effects of the previous one while applying the current one. Explosions of scale-dusts and huge infernos controlled with [Pyrokinesis] answered the saurian priest’s spells in kind.

A clash of elements, fire and water, pushed each back and forth, continuously producing steam until it was so thick that no one could see anything besides for me with my [Heat Vision].

I was doubtful that Kushlek’zar could actually beat Hestia is a duel of spells, as I have seen the intensity of he power far too often when we sparred. I was so pessimistic about it that I was contemplating to pull everybody into the shadow world to escape this heat wave.

…However, I was proven wrong. Kushlek'zar is an experienced water mage with years of practice and training that made him superior to Hestia as a mage, clearly to be seen as he was pushing Hestia's aura back. Water was dominating fire.

I was astounded. Never have I seen anybody be able to contest Hestia in a straight up magic duel. I know I had a very low sample size, but I was immensely confident that Hestia couldn’t lose. Noentheless, I can’t deny the truth that I was seeing here: Hestia was losing.

However, the problem lies with the fact that he couldn’t contest her when it comes to mana consumption. Hestia wasn’t even using actual spell here, as all her attacks were made from the fire surrounding her, controlled with [Pyrokinesis].

I couldn’t see her status board as she was blocking everything, but I know that Kushlek’zar’s mana was already at half.

[“Hestia stop! Please, you have to stop now!”] I shouted at her with [Telepathy].

[“Lady Hestia, please, I beg you to stop. I-I can’t bear this heat anymore,”] Tasianna copied me, once she heard my thoughts.

What am I supposed to do here?! I shouted to myself, unable to think of any plans as exhaustion clouded my mind through the heatstroke.

But as I was thinking this, the aura of heat and the fire barrage suddenly stopped. Kushlek'zar halted his attack once he felt no more resistance, although, one of the spells did hit its mark. Rolling on the ground like a ragdoll, steam began leaking from Hestia's mouth as she laid on the wet ground, unwilling to stand up or move a muscle.

After lowering the temperature with Tasianna’s ice magic and Kushlek’zar’s water magic, the area was bearable enough to walk through. The moment we knew that, Tasianna and I immediately sprinted towards Hestia, bringing her body up before embracing her tightly.

Gurgh! …Her body is still burning! Ouch!

“OOF! Guys…that’s too tight,” she meekly uttered.

“S-Shut it, Hestia. That was not cool at all, not cool at all…,” I said as I tightened my grip around her, ignoring the pain.

“Miss Saori is right, Lady Hestia…P-Please give up your right to refuse up for today. All of this was too much for us,” Tasianna agreed without letting go of Hestia, eyes closed as she was stimulated by her warm body, although, in truth it might be torturous for her.

“…Sorry,” I muttered silently.

“Don’t be. Just explain everything, that’s all I’m asking. You already did well by coming back to us,” I stated as I caressed her crimson hair, having lost their yellow glow.

“Yeah, sure…could I ask a favor before I do that?”

“Sure.”

"Well…, I'm really hungry. Like really, really, really, really, hungry. I think I just burned through three days' worth of calories," Hestia shyly said as a growl escaped her stomach.

“Hie hie, anything you want.”